During the second half of the 18th century, the workshop of Abraham and David Roentgen at Neuwied on the Rhine was among Europe's most successful cabinetmaking enterprises, employing at its height nearly two hundred specialized artisans. The Roentgens' ingenious inventions combined innovative designs with intriguing mechanical devices that revolutionized traditional types of European furniture. Key to their success was the pairing of the skilled craftsman Abraham with his boldly entrepreneurial son David, whose clients included the most prominent sovereigns of Europe, among them Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette of France, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Frederick William II of Prussia. In addition, the Roentgens perfected the practice of adapting prefabricated elements and elaborate trompe l'oeil marquetry panels to the specifications of their customers.

Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens is the first comprehensive English-language survey of the firm in nearly fifty years, from its founding in 1742 to its closing in the early 1800s. Detailed discussions explain the intricate workings of these extraordinary pieces and are complemented by illustrations showing them in their contemporary interiors. Design drawings, portraits of the cabinetmakers and their patrons, and previously unpublished historical documents from the Roentgen estate further illuminate the work of these master craftsmen. An essential contribution to the study of European furniture, this fascinating book firmly establishes the Roentgens as the principal Continental European cabinetmakers of the ancien régime.

Table of contents

Director's ForewordThomas P. Campbell

Preface and AcknowledgmentsWolfram Koeppe

Lenders to the Exhibition

From Rococo Playfulness to Neoclassical Elegance: Abraham and David Roentgen as Europe's Principal CabinetmakersWolfram Koeppe

Abraham and David Roentgen: Moravian Artisan and Merchant-DiplomatBernd Willscheid

A Unique Relationship: Charles Alexander of Lorraine and David RoentgenReinier Baarsen

David Roentgen and the Court of VersaillesBertrand Rondot

David Roentgen under the "Special Protection" of the King of PrussiaAchim Stiegel

Neuwied Furniture and the Russian Luxury MarketTamara Rappe

The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens

Appendix 1
The Hidden History of a Roentgen CommodeMechthild Baumeister

Wolfram Koeppe is Marina Kellen French Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Bernd Willscheid is Director of the Roentgen-Museum in Neuwied, Germany.

Reinier Baarsen is Chief Curator at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Bertrand Rondot is Chief Curator at the Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon in Versailles.

Achim Stiegel is Curator of Furniture at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin.

Tamara Rappe is Head of Western European Applied Arts at The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Mechthild Baumeister is Conservator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Daniela Meyer is a conservator in private practice in Berlin.

Hans-Werner Pape is Chief Conservator Emeritus at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin.

Hans Michaelsen is Professor Emeritus of Conservation at the Fachhochschule in Potsdam.

Tamara Schechter is Research Associate in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Press reviews

Country Life

"With a catalogue that provides the first scholarly treatment of the subject in English in more than 30 years, it promises to be one of the most significant furniture exhibitions of the decade."

The New York Times

“… the book, by Mr. Koeppe and other international scholars, puts this art in a radically new perspective…Should you miss the show, do not ignore a book that lays the foundation of a new approach to the decorative arts as part of a cultural process.”

The Magazine Antiques

"This resplendent catalogue of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition is worthy of its subject ... impressive essays on the Roentgens, their working methods, and their world ... the fascinating story is at once artistic, social and spiritual."

Australian Book Review

"This superbly illustrated book has essays by a team of experts, led by Wolfram Koeppe, on a range of the Roentgens' activities, their lives, and their relationships with key patrons, followed by brief object-specific essays on each of the pieces of furniture included in the exhibition. It is a model publications on decorative arts of the most extravagant and inventive kind."

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The meteoric rise of the workshop of Abraham Roentgen (1711–1793) and his son David (1743–1807) blazed across eighteenth-century continental Europe. This landmark exhibition will be the first comprehensive survey of the cabinetmaking firm from around 1742 to its closing in the early 1800s. Its innovative designs were combined with intriguing mechanical devices to revolutionize traditional French and English furniture types. From its base in Germany the workshop employed novel marketing and production techniques to serve an international clientele. Some sixty to sixty-five pieces of furniture and clocks—several of which have never before been lent for exhibition—will be complemented by paintings and prints that depict these unrivaled masterpieces in contemporary interiors. The most complicated mechanical devices will be illustrated through virtual animations. Working drawings, portraits of the cabinetmakers, their family, and important patrons, as well as a series of documents owned by the Metropolitan Museum and originating from the Roentgen estate, will underline the long-overlooked significance and legacy of the Roentgens as Europe's principal cabinetmakers of the ancien régime.